


Fate's On Our Side

by Word_Smith_94



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), College Student Derek Hale, College Student Stiles Stilinski, Fate, First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Selkies, Shy Derek Hale, Talkative Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29912661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Word_Smith_94/pseuds/Word_Smith_94
Summary: Spring break means European trip this year, and Stiles likes the Scottish pub they're in, even if he's the fifth wheel to three of his friends and an asshole. He's seen a few hot guys, but all he does is look, even when a little accident with a jacket gives him the perfect chance to speak up. Instead, he stares like a weirdo and runs away. Who knew the guy would track him down and give him life changing news? At least it comes in a pretty package.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 2
Kudos: 112





	Fate's On Our Side

Stiles looks around the Scottish pub, trying to find Scott in the press of people. So many people, so many accents, and he loves it, up until he can’t find Scotty. Or Allision, or Lydia. He doesn’t mind not seeing Jackson, not at all.

Raising his beer above his head, Stiles starts moving through the crowd, trying to reach the edge so he can walk around to try and find their booth. He has to reach theirs eventually. He smirks and nods at a few people who look him up and down, appreciating the view. Scottish people look good.

As he moves around the edge of the pub, Stiles notices the guy he noticed earlier. About Stiles’ height, but he’s so much bigger than Stiles everywhere else. Broad shoulders, thick biceps, thick thigh, thick hair that Stiles wants to run his fingers through.

Sexy face too, all formidable eyebrows and scruff, but also a cute smile when he smiles enough to show his teeth. Stiles feels lucky to have seen that smile earlier in the night even if it wasn’t for him but someone in his group.

Right when Stiles reaches his table, the crowd surges, knocking Stiles into the sexy guy’s chair, knocking his jacket off the back. Feeling bad, Stiles crouches down to pick up the jacket and put it back over the chair with his free hand.

“Sorry about that,” Stiles says, beaming at the guy when he turns around to look at Stiles. His eyes flare with surprise, cheeks turning light pink when they meet Stiles’. He doesn’t say anything though, and Stiles starts to feel awkward, so he waves at the guy before moving on and finally finding his friends where he drops his head onto the table.

“What’d you do, Stilinski?” Jackson asks, reaching over to smack Stiles on the back of the head. Doesn’t do much with his forehead still touching the table, but Stiles takes the time to flip him off before sitting up.

“You know that hot guy I saw earlier?” Lydia and Allison nod, probably the only ones who actually care about hot guys. “Well, the crowd pushed me into his chair, and I knocked of his jacket, but when I put it back, I just looked at him and didn’t say anything, so I looked like an idiot and ran away from him like a fool.” He drops his head to the table again with a groan.

“Go back and talk to him then,” Lydia says, raising an eyebrow when Stiles rolls his head enough to look at her. “Can’t embarrass yourself any more than you already have, can you?”

Well, she’s no help either. Stiles sits up and starts drinking his beer. “Too late,” he laments, sinking down in his chair. “I can’t go back over there now. I’ll look super weird!”

“You already do,” Jackson sneers, earning an elbow in the ribs from Lydia. Stiles smiles at her in thanks before remembering his shame.

“I’m just going to sit here and fester in my shame,” Stiles decides. He talks with his friends while trying not to feel like too much of a fifth wheel. He can’t help himself though, looking over several times to the table where the really hot guy sits.

His whole table has their heads shoved close together, probably whispering together. Stiles gets a sinking feeling they’re talking about him which confirms he isn’t going over there again. He’s never going to see the guy again, not after this week when he heads back home, so at least there’s that.

Eventually the girls have had enough and make Scott and Jackson take them back to the hotel. Stiles follows behind them, hands in his pockets, wishing he was a little drunker for his little walk of shame.

Embarrassment and loneliness are not a good mix, but at least drunkenness dulls it a bit.

He makes his way to the beach to watch the ocean for a bit. It looks nice with the full moon reflecting off the waves, and Stiles settle in on the sand to listen to the waves. While sitting there, someone walks up and sits next to Stiles, and he turns to stare at the hot guy from the pub.

Really?

“Sorry,” Stiles says, always a good start. “I know I kind of stared at you after giving you your jacket back, and I’m sorry if it came off creepy, but you’re really attractive, and I definitely noticed that, but I didn’t really know what to say, so I just walked away. And that probably made it worse, just walking away, so, I’m sorry about that.”

“You’re not from here, are you?” Growly voice that has no accent. Huh.

“Nope. Spring break, and I’m going to school at Stanford,” Stiles explains. “American all the way, just getting a taste of Europe while I can. You? Because you sound as American as me, dude.”

He frowns at Stiles, eyebrows pulling together all doom and gloomy. “My name’s not dude. It’s Derek.”

Well then. “Stiles.” He sticks his hand out for Derek to shake, and Derek looks at it for a moment before shaking it. “Nice to meet you, Derek. How are you?”

When he doesn’t get a response, Stiles turns to see Derek frowning at his hands in his lap. He reaches over to put a hand on Derek’s shoulder, but the man flinches slightly, enough to stop Stiles’ hand. He pulls it back to his lap, feeling awkward.

“Do you know what a selkie is?” Derek asks after a long silence.

“Selkie?” Stiles sits up right away now that he has something to say again. “They’re a Scottish myth, shape changing creatures that are human until they wrap themselves in their sealskin which is when they look like seals.

“Legend says if you steal a selkie’s skin, then you can control them. Which is a super shitty thing to do to someone. Why would you want someone only with you because you forced it on them?” Stiles shakes his head. “Not to mention how illegal it’d be. Why?”

Derek looks at Stiles for a moment before stretching out his hand. Stiles doesn’t get why he wants to shake again, but then Derek opens his hand and shows Stiles a ring. It’s simple, but the moonlight also glints off etchings in the side.

“What most people don’t know is the other part of the legend. If someone steals a skin, they basically own the selkie. But if a selkie drops their skin, and someone gives it back, that means they’re married.”

Stiles looks at Derek, making sure to meet his eyes, trying to figure out why that matters. Because there’s no way Derek’s saying what he thinks he’s saying because it’s definitely not real and totally not true.

“So, if you were a selkie, and I picked up your skin instead of just your leather jacket and put it on the back of your chair,” Stiles says, trying not to panic, “then I’d marry you by doing that, by trying to be helpful?”

Derek nods before pausing and starting to rock his hand back and forth. “It’s more than the human concept of marriage.”

Well, that seals it. Oh! Pun _not_ intended. Stiles is smart enough to add two and two and come up with four because even if it doesn’t make sense, the only thing that makes sense is that Derek’s explaining that he’s a selkie and now Stiles is selkie married to him.

“If it’s more than marriage, why do you have a ring? Because that doesn’t seem like something that would work if your hand turned into a seal flipper. And if someone’s proposing to me, then I need to find a way to put a ring on it too,” Stiles tells him, dead serious. “No way I’d let someone as hot as you go without putting a ring on it.

“Not that I need to mark you,” Stiles rushes to add when Derek moves back a bit. “Because you’re your own person, and I really mean that. It’s not just words. But people are assholes, don’t always respect words if you say you’re taken, and you seem a little shy and quiet. I can bluster anyone into anything, but you don’t seem like the type.”

Derek gives him a shy smile, still holding the ring out on his palm. “My sisters do that for me. They’ll like you.”

“Good, because I get the feeling we’re going to spend a lot of time together in the future,” Stiles starts to babble while trying to guess which women he saw earlier might be Derek’s sisters. “I’d like to like my in-laws even if takes time to get there.”

Still slightly smiling, Derek looks at him with wide eyes. “In-laws? You’re going to marry me?”

“Well…” Stiles shrugs, trying to turn his thoughts into words. “Just because we’re magic married doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do. I need to get to know you, you need to get to know me, and then we can do the whole human marriage thing. Wanna go on a date? We can figure out the whole long-distance thing later on.”

His mind spins, trying to figure out how to do long-distance around his classes, if there’s a job he can get and like that’ll let him work remotely. He’s getting way ahead of himself, but Stiles perfected that years ago.

Derek closes his hand around the ring, tucking it back in his pocket. “We’ve moving back to California soon, at the end of the school year. We can Skype before that, call once we both in the States?”

California? What are the odds? Stiles shifts and twists around to hug Derek. “Yes, Skype, and then we can text, and then we can get married. Because I’ll be honest, you’re super hot, and you’ve got this cute shy thing going on, but I bet you’re interesting, and I just have to keep talking until you start talking back, and then we get to know each other, and I have a good feeling about us. If Fate’s going to give you a shitty thing like insta-marriage, then Fate has to be on your side making sure it only happens with the right person.”

“If Fate was so nice, why do we have to worry about people stealing our skins?” Derek asks, voice dry, eyebrow raised, and giving Stiles some hope he’s right about them getting along.

“Bad people steal, life really sucks. But good people help, are nice, and so they’ll be a good fit,” Stiles announces, getting to his feet to stretch then offer a hand to Derek who stands with supernatural grace without needing Stiles’ hand. “I’m not perfect, and I’ve got plenty of flaws, but I’m decently nice, so I think Fate’s on our side.”

Derek gives him another lovely smile, taking Stiles’ hand. “I think so too.”


End file.
